Srinagar, Sept. 19 -- On a damp September morning in Shopian, the road leading out of town looked less like a highway and more like a dumping ground.

Crates of discarded apples lay shattered in the mud. Crows picked at the softening skins, while flies buzzed above the rot.

The smell of fermenting apples carried through the air, sour and heavy, reminding passersby of another wasted season.

For weeks, farmers had been arriving with truckloads of fruit only to discover that markets were already flooded due to disrupted highway. With nowhere to store their harvest, many did what they had done in past years: they tipped the rotten boxes onto the roadside and drove away.

"Each box feels like a part of you," said Bashir Ahmad, an orchardis...